Five years of hard work is paying off for the team at Aussie Ark who have released a new cohort of Eastern Quolls into their Barrington Tops sanctuary.
Eastern Quolls have been extinct on mainland Australia since the 1960s but the conservation organisation hidden away in the quiet of the Barrington Tops has bred their Quolls with genetics from the species who live in Tasmania where they can still be found in the wild, but are also plummeting in numbers.
Famous for its spotted coat and bright black eyes, the Eastern Quoll is a cat-sized marsupial carnivore which is solitary and nocturnal in nature.
The ten Quolls that have released this week are particularly significant because of the genetic diversity they will bring to the population already living in the sanctuary.
Aussie Ark Managing Director Tim Faulkner said it’s a very special moment for the species.
“This year Aussie Ark was very lucky to receive some new Quolls, some new genetics, from the Tasmanian Quoll Program in Tasmania,” Mr Faulkner said. “Our goal is to have a mainland population that is representative of its wild counterpart. So these new Quolls that are being released help us achieve that.
“Whenever we do a release like this we are turning back time. This exquisite species has suffered so much. This is the second chance it deserves.”
This spring the organisation announced a record-breaking ‘baby boom’ of 63 new Quoll babies born in the Barrington Wildlife Sanctuary.
The work Aussie Ark does has gotten media attention and public interest worldwide which Tim Faulkner said has been incredibly uplifting.
“It showed us how much our work is valued, and proved again that our conservation model is a true example for the world. This model is about achieving a measurable result. From identifying an endangered species, to building up an insurance population, to returning that species back into the wild where it belongs. This is what Aussie Ark specialises in. And today, we’re doing it again.”
Aussie Ark now boasts the largest population of Eastern Quolls on mainland Australia, and this new cohort adds vital genetic diversity to the population of Quolls already living in the 400 hectare Barrington Wildlife Sanctuary.
Aussie Ark would like to thank their partners and supporters Australian Reptile Park, Glencore, WIRES, Australian Geographic, Volkswagen Australia and Jake Wilton Photography.
